Foreign firms can bid for 3G auctionNew Delhi, October 24
The government today said foreign firms would be allowed to bid for spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile services and will start auctioning the radio waves from January 14, 2010.

Maruti Suzuki posts Rs 570-crore profit
New Delhi, October 24
Boosted by good festive season sales and robust exports, the country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today reported a nearly two-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 570 crore for the second quarter of FY'10.

Dr Reddy’s denies takeoverHyderabad, October 24
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) today termed as “speculative” the media reports of its possible takeover by the British pharma major GlaxoSmithKline
(GSK).

Aviation NotesFlying into rough weather
The aviation sector has turned flimsy of late owing to over indulgence of politicians and industrialists. In an anxiety to reach their destination, they force the pilots to operate when the parameters are not conducive for flying.

China to correct trade imbalancewith India
Cha-am Hua Hin (Thailand), October 24Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his country would correct the balance of trade that was currently
in its favour. The issue of trade imbalance in the $41.6-billion
merchandise engagement with India came up during a meeting of the two
premiers on the margins of the Association of the Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) summit here.

A ruby necklace and earrings of the Duchess of Roxburghe are displayed at Sotheby's auction house in London. They are estimated to fetch $5,30,000-$9,75,000 when they go under the hammer next month. — Reuters

Investor GuidancePPF a/c can be continued without contribution
Q I had opened a PPF account on March 28, 1989, for 15 years that was further extended for five years. This extended term was also completed on March 31, 2009. Balance on the
maturity date was Rs 4,83,488. However, in July 2009 I further deposited Rs 70,000 in the account without any intention to continue it.

Icahn resigns from Yahoo boardNew York, October 24Billionaire investor Carl Icahn resigned from his position on the Yahoo board, saying the US Internet giant no longer needed an "activist" director like him.

New Delhi, October 24
The government today said foreign firms would be allowed to bid for spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile services and will start auctioning the radio waves from January 14, 2010.

“Interested foreign entities are allowed to participate in the auctions directly and apply for licences subsequently,” the revised Information memorandum, giving details about eligibility criteria and time schedule, said.

Foreign entities can operate telecom services in India only through an Indian subsidiary with not more than 74 per cent foreign share holding, subject to the approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

According to the memorandum, the firms have to submit bids by December 21 for a total of 71 blocks of spectrum put up for auction across 20 of India's 22 telecoms zones.

The auction, which would introduce and video downloads on mobile phones, was originally slated for January 2009 but was deferred to December after differences cropped up between the Telecom Ministry and the Finance Ministry over the reserve price for the bids.

The government hopes to garner as much as Rs 35,000 crore from the auction of the 3G spectrum, the base price for which has been set at the insistence of the Finance Ministry. In fact, Telecom Minister A Raja has also written to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to intervene with the Defence Ministry for an early vacation of the spectrum by defence forces, as it is crucial for the 3G spectrum auction.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has said the auction of 3G spectrum would be carried out in four stages - invitation stage, pre-qualification, auction and grant of spectrum.

The DoT would hold a pre-bid conference on November 16 and the mock auction would be conducted on January 11-12 next year.

“The auction of 3G spectrum would start on January 14, 2010," the DoT said, adding that this is an indicative time schedule and subject to revision.

Sources said, if the defence forces do not vacate their spectrum in the coming few weeks then the spectrum auction date could be further revised and as the clause of “subject to revision” has been put in the new information memorandum.

According to the revised schedule, there is a slippage of over two weeks compared to the original plan as announced by the Empowered Group of Ministers.

Raja: I have not deviated from norms

Udhagamandalam (TN): Rejecting allegations of alleged irregularities in spectrum allocation to telecom firms, Communication and IT Minister A Raja today said he had not deviated from the norms followed by his predecessors.

“I have only followed the stipulations laid down by my predecessors and officials and have not deviated from them,” Raja, who has come under attack from Oppositions parties over the spectrum allocation that has allegedly caused a revenue loss of Rs 22,000 crore to the government, told reporters here.
— PTI

New Delhi, October 24
Boosted by good festive season sales and robust exports, the country's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India, today reported a nearly two-fold jump in its net profit at Rs 570 crore for the second quarter of FY'10.

The company had a net profit of Rs 296.12 crore in the same period a year ago.

It is investing Rs 150 crore to hike production capacity at its Gurgaon facility by up to 90,000 units through de-bottlenecking and modernisation.

MSI's net sales grew by 46.67 per cent during the quarter ended September 30, 2009, at Rs 7,049.58 crore, against Rs 4,806.26 crore in the same period last year.

India Infoline

Domestic brokerage firm India Infoline has said its consolidated net profit rose by 44.27 per cent to Rs 58 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, over the same period last year.

Total income rose to Rs 313.6 crore in the latest quarter, against Rs 276.6 crore in the same period last fiscal, India Infoline said.

PTC India net dips

Power trading firm PTC India has said its net profit declined by 5.81 per cent to Rs 30.81 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, over the same period last year. Total income rose to Rs 2,475.70 crore in the latest quarter against Rs 2,059.33 crore in the same period last year, PTC India said.

Honda Siel Power

Portable gensets firm Honda Siel Power Products has reported a net loss of Rs 8.75 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, while it had a net profit of Rs 7.28 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Petronet LNG

Petronet LNG has said its net profit rose by 16.74 per cent to Rs 120.67 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, over the same period last year. Total income of the company surged over two-fold to Rs 3,425.73 crore in the latest quarter, against Rs 1,672.69 crore in the same period of the corresponding fiscal, Petronet LNG said.

Kirloskar Pneumatic

Cooling solutions company Kirloskar Pneumatic Company has said its net profit jumped two fold to Rs 14 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 against the same period last year.

Net sales declined to Rs 110.11 crore in the latest quarter ended September 30 against Rs 114.45 crore in the same period previous fiscal, the company said.

Nagarjuna Fertilisers

Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals has said its net profit declined marginally by 0.61 per cent to Rs 8.10 crore for the second quarter ended September 30 against same period last fiscal.

Total income declined to Rs 533.73 crore in the latest quarter ended September 30, against Rs 856.63 crore in the same period corresponding year, Nagarjuna Fertilisers & Chemicals said.
— PTI

Hyderabad, October 24
Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) today termed as “speculative” the media reports of its possible takeover by the British pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

The DRL promoters were not willing to dilute their stakes in the company, the company vice-president and CEO GV Prasad said here.

“We have entered into strategic tie-up with GSK for marketing of some products. We share revenues as part of the agreement,” he said. Earlier, reports in a section of media had suggested that GSK was keen to pick up a five per cent stake in DRL.

Accompanied by DRL managing director Satish Reddy and chief financial officer Umang Vohra, the CEO announced the results of the company for the first half of the current financial year. Helped by the launch of new generics in the overseas market, the New York Stock Exchange listed company reported a 106.55 per cent growth in its net to Rs 217.3 crore for the second quarter ended September 2009, as against Rs 105.2 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The revenues during the quarter touched Rs 1,836.8 crore, compared to Rs 1,615.1 crore during the corresponding period last year, reflecting an increase of 13.72 per cent.

The aviation sector has turned flimsy of late owing to over indulgence of politicians and industrialists. In an anxiety to reach their destination, they force the pilots to operate when the parameters are not conducive for flying.

As a result of unfavourable weather conditions and technical flaws due to substandard maintenance, several accidents have occurred and precious lives lost.

This dangerous trend has been going on as the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) merely institutes inquiries and fail to take punitive action against defaulting agencies. “What action can we take against politically promoted agencies?” said an official, adding: “We cannot even make public the findings after we undertake investigations”.

In a recent incident, an aircraft carrying BJP president Rajnath Singh took off in semi-darkness in the light of jeep headlights. It was sheer luck that nothing untoward happened. The investigations reveal that the pilot was prevailed upon to take off in clear violation of rules. The lives of all on board were unnecessarily risked.

The authorities have ordered a probe into the incident. But as usual no heed will be paid to the findings and the file will gather dust along with other such files.

Such laxities have been the reason behind deteriorating scenario in both civil and general aviation. The analysts say it is only when any action would be taken against defaulting politicians and pilots, there is some hope.

The DGCA's apathy has been the reason behind “drunk” pilots reporting for duty. On October 19, one of the Air India pilots on a New York-Mumbai flight failed to pass the pre-flight breath analyser test. He was off-loaded and a substitute pilot called in. But the flight got delayed causing an avoidable inconvenience to passengers.

The number of pilots for operating flights on Boeing 777-200 LR is very limited and, therefore, the airlines, including Air India, are wary of punishing commanders for reporting “drunk”. The analysts say this is a very unconvincing reason. No reason is good enough to compromise safety of passengers.

Cha-am Hua Hin (Thailand), October 24
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao today assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his country would correct the balance of trade that was currently in its favour.

The issue of trade imbalance in the $41.6-billion merchandise engagement with India came up during a meeting of the two premiers on the margins of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit here.

“He (Wen) said China will work with India to correct the growing trade deficit,” N Ravi, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters after the Singh-Wen meeting.

In the bilateral engagement of $41.6 billion for the fiscal 2008-09, Chinese imports to India were a tidy $31.33 billion. But India’s exports were far less at $9.27 billion creating a gap which the domestic Indian firms have expressed concern over.

Leading business chambers have also conveyed their concern to the government over “dumping” of Chinese goods in the Indian market as China was facing a slump in the western economies.

The Indian government, on its part, has initiated the maximum number of anti-dumping investigations against imports from China.
— PTI

Q I had opened a PPF account on March 28, 1989, for 15 years that was further extended for five years. This extended term was also completed on March 31, 2009. Balance on the maturity date was Rs 4,83,488. However, in July 2009 I further deposited Rs 70,000 in the account without any intention to continue it. Now, I want to close the account and use the money. The bank has opined that as I have deposited an instalment after the maturity date, the account is automatically extended for further five years. I would like to know if the PPF law permits to extend the terms automatically i.e. without written application from account holder.

— KP Gupta

A We do not have good news for you. As per notification F 3(6)-PD/86 dated August 20, 1986: “The continuation can be with or without contribution. Once an account is continued without contributions for more than a year, the subscriber cannot opt to change over to continue the account with contributions.” The best you can do is to take advantage of the following provision: “A subscriber, continuing his account with fresh subscriptions, can withdraw up to 60% of the balance to his credit at the commencement of each extended period in one or more
instalments, but only one per year. On the other hand, the balance can merely be retained in the account without contribution till it is needed.

Any amount, in part or full, can be withdrawn in
instalments, not exceeding one in a year. The balance will continue to earn interest till it is completely withdrawn.” Also note that Form H has to be used to declare the intention of continuing the account with subscription. The CBDT has declared
[MoF (DEA) 7/21/88-NS-II dated August 10, 1990] that neither the rebate u/s 88 (deduction u/s 80C at this juncture) nor the interest will be available on deposits after the expiry of 15 years (or each extended block) without exercising the option for continuance. These deposits will be treated as irregular. If you have filed Form H at the first extension in 2004 and not filed it until now, you may ask for the entire refund of the balance as on April 1, 2009, (with interest) along with the contribution of Rs 70,000 to the account. The bank may still refuse to close your account and ask you to file Form H before the end of the year. However, do not take this action if you have not filed Form H at the first extension.

Double Taxation Treaty

Q Please let the NRIs in Canada know if there is any change in the Double Taxation Treaty or specific laws/rules by the Indian authorities. It can be useful for the readers of the Toronto edition of India Abroad.

— Prakash Mody

A In almost all cases, rules applicable for an NRI/PIO in the US are the same as for those in Canada or anywhere in the world. The reason for this is that the resolutions provided are with respect to Indian laws as applicable to NRIs. To that extent, the local laws are not relevant. However, you are correct in observing that the Double Taxation Treaty provisions are country specific and if there is any difference in the tax treatment for NRIs from different countries, we will point out the same.

New York, October 24
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn resigned from his position on the Yahoo board, saying the US Internet giant no longer needed an "activist" director like him. “I don't believe that it is necessary at this time to have an activist on the board of Yahoo and currently, my attention is focused on other matters,” Icahn, one of the company's largest shareholders, wrote in a resignation letter to the board.

“As a result, I do not presently have the time that is necessary to devote to the business and affairs of Yahoo required if a board member is to fulfil his fiduciary duties to the shareholders,” he added.

A spokeswoman for the investor said in a statement that Icahn “indicated that there are a number of other companies on which he is currently focused”. Icahn, a financier who has developed a reputation as a corporate raider on Monday offered a $6-billion loan to ailing lending giant CIT Group.
— AFP